NAHSL Executive Board Meeting

University of Massachusetts Medical Center

Worcester MA

March 7, 2003

 

Present:  Fran Becker, Heather Blunt,  Kathy Brunjes, Happy Copley, Janet Cowen, Ed Donnald, Anne Fladger, Carole Foxman, Shirley Gronholm, Barb Ingrassia, Peter Jones, Patty Kahn,  Len Levin, Jill Livingston, Evelyn Breck Morgen, Debbie Sibley, Mary Ann Slocomb

 

Ed called the meeting to order at 10:19 a.m. 

 

Announcements

Ed mentioned that Debbie Sibley and Anne Fladger would be arriving late as they were attending the MAHSLIN meeting in Shrewsbury. 

 

Ed welcomed Shirley Gronholm to the Board as Chapter Council Alternate.  Introductions were done around the table. 

 

Ed announced that Janet Cowen has agreed to serve as Chapter Benchmarking Educator.

 

Secretary’s Report

Action:             Minutes of the December 6, 2002 Board Meeting were accepted as presented.

 

Treasurer’s Report

Discussion:       Fran passed around Marj Anderson’s Annual Report for 2002.

Action:             The report was accepted as presented.

Discussion:       Proposed budget for 2003 was discussed.  Mary Ann moved that we keep “level funding” – funds at the same level as 2002 – and deal with changes to the budget as needed .  Patty proposed that we raise the Scholarship budget to $5,000 in the interests of supporting education of members.  Kathy requested that Conference 2004 receive an additional $500 to allow for committee members’ travel to planning meetings. 

Action:             The proposed budget for 2003 was approved with these two changes.  Fran will send out a corrected 2003 budget to Executive Board members via email. 

 

Committee Reports

Archives

Discussion:       Carole is working to fill in holes in our archival records.  She still does not have packets from the 1997 NAHSL Conference in Burlington VT or the 1999 Conference in Portland ME.  Carole reminded the committee that the Archives need three postcards, three registration packets, and three meeting packets. 

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Bylaws

Discussion:       Patty reported no changes to Bylaws underway currently.  She reminded Peter to work on the policies and procedures for Membership.  Patty did communicate to MLA the changes we made to our Bylaws at the Annual Meeting.  (We notified MLA after the fact but will in future send such notification prior to any formal votes). 

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Conference ‘03

Discussion:       Len announced that the program is all set for the conference.  Committee meetings are going smoothly.  The opening reception will be a Halloween Party; folks may come in costume or purchase masks at the Scholarship table.

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Conference ‘02

Discussion:       Karen Odato sent a detailed report, which Ed passed along to Len and Kathy. 

Action:             Len will send a copy of this report to Carole for the Archives. 

 

Conference ‘04

Discussion:       Kathy announced that negotiations had been finalized with Sebasco Harbour Estates for October 2-5, 2004.  This is where the 1979 NAHSL conference was held, at which time NAHSL started the tradition of rotating the conference between states.  The setting is lovely and room rates will be quite reasonable.

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Chapter Council

Discussion:       Debbie announced that Chapter Council reps are very busy preparing for the Chapter Council Presents Sharing Roundtables.  The Chapter Chair report is due March 24.  Chapter Council report is due March 17.  MLA held a contest to encourage recruiting for new members; so far the contest has garnered 15 new members nationwide. 

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Ed held another introduction around the table for the benefit of Heather Blount and Anne Fladger who had just joined the group. 

 

Education

Discussion:       Heather says that the Spring Continuing Education will be a NAHSL sponsorship of the MLA satellite broadcast on March 12, concerning HIPAA.   It will be held at five locations around the region:  Togus VA in Augusta, Maine; Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire; Providence College in Rhode Island; Hartford Hospital in Connecticut; and Boston Children’s Hospital.  NAHSL is offering this program for free, so $350 in food and snack costs will be absorbed by the CE budget. 

Action:             Motion to approved the Spring CE offering was approved by the Board.

Discussion:       Heather asked about the existence of a NAHSL credit card.

Action:             Fran will check with Marj about the details on the credit card. 

Discussion:       It was suggested that next year the Education Committee keep the Board apprised of Spring CE plans in January (via email), so that the Board knows about the details and can approve them earlier. 

Discussion:       The CE Committee needs an additional member, who should be from Rhode Island, but ARIHSL currently has no one able to fill this slot. 

Action:             Ed requested that all state reps spread the word to see if anyone would like to volunteer for the Education Committee. 

 

Electronic Communications

Discussion:       Lida could not attend.  Debbie reported that security issues at U Mass Medical Center have arisen.  Lida will now have to send all changes to the website through Penny Glassman at the RML.

Action:             NAHSL members should still contact Lida for anything they need to have changed or added to the website.

 

Finance

No additional report.

 

Government Relations

Discussion:       Barb reported that the Patriot Act continues to be a worry for librarians.  UCITA did not received American Bar Association approval, so will probably be rewritten before it reappears in various states.  Copyright law has changed to 95 years or life of author + 70 years. 

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Marketing

Discussion:       Jill announced that the Marketing Committee is planning to do a newsletter and possibly a swap meet or poster session of marketing materials at the fall conference.   They will also be discussing a possible CE course on marketing with the Education Committee. 

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Membership

Discussion:       Peter reported that 150 members have paid as of March 4.  Some institutions  are still using prior mailing addresses. This is a serious problem; they should be using the RML address.  Paypal has had some problems; only six people have used Paypal successfully in February, according to Fran. 

Action:             Ed will put up a message reminding members to renew by March 31—to the correct address.  Peter will send a list of paid members to the Scholarship Chair in the second week of April. 

 

Nominating

Discussion:       Mary Ann reported that Jay Daly of Beth Israel Hospital in Boston has agreed to serve as the Candidate for the MLA Nominating Committee in 2004.

Action:             Executive Board approved this nomination. 

 

Program

Discussion:       Anne announced that the program for Conference 2003 is in good shape.  John Halamka, Chief Information Officer of Harvard Medical School will speak on medical informatics.  Judy Forman, health reporter for the Boston Globe, will be a second key speaker.  Three seminars will discuss the process of change, writing a business plan for the library, and medical editing and publishing.  Poster sessions will also be offered.  Program is up on the website for further information.

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

Scholarship

No report.

 

MLA Credentialing

Joan did not attend and sent no report.

 

RML

Discussion:       Debbie reported that RML staff have submitted the proposal for the Year 3 budget.  Mark is fielding numerous calls about Linkout, now that he has given a seminar on this topic around the region.  The Regional ILL meeting will be held in Shrewsbury on April 4.  Mary Jackson is the keynote speaker on The Future of ILL.  A seven-question survey has been sent out to all on the NAHSL list on the cost of ILL.  (Some regions want to change the maximum cost for ILL.) 

Action:             For informational purposes only.

 

State Reports

ARIHSL     Janet sent a report.  ARIHSL is investigating joining the  HELIN consortium (higher education group) and entering holdings into their InRhode catalogue.  ARIHSL’s fiftieth Birthday will be celebrated on June 18 at Brown University.  Providence College will host the MLA Satellite course on March 12, concerning HIPAA.  Donna Wikstrand is looking into hotels in Providence for Conference 2005.

 

CAHSL        Evelyn reported that the Holiday Party had included relaxation exercises, which everyone enjoyed.  The January meeting was a Linkout seminar, courtesy of Mark Goldstein.   In March, they will have a CE entitled Data Detective: Finding the Gems in Public Health, taught by Hongie Wang.   In April, the theme will be document delivery systems.  Nancy Goodwin is the new incoming chair.  CAHSL continues to look at joint purchasing projects through the Connecticut Hospital Association.

 

NH/VT       A meeting is scheduled for March 28 on the future of the organization: how to sustain the group with perhaps scaled-back board meetings but continuing the education component.  Debbie Sibley and Bob Sekerak will facilitate this meeting. 

 

HSLIC        The Spring Meeting will be held on May 16 at University of Maine Orono, with a seminar on procedures for direct updating for the Maine Union List of Serials (MULS).  The Maine Library Association annual conference will be held in early May – Practically Magic, Magically Practical -- and once again HSLIC is involved in presenting sessions and exhibiting materials for the state’s public and school librarians. 

 

MAHSLIN           Debbie reported that the spring meeting will be held in Boyleston on April 24.  Technology Awareness Day was February 5 at the Massachusetts Medical Society; there were 120 physicians and 30 librarians in attendance.  MAHSLIN has produced a 30-second public service announcement on the importance of medical librarians.  Debbie will bring the video to our next Board meeting so we can review it.      

 

New Business

 

Underserved Minorities:            Peter Dross of Underserved Minorities has contacted Ed, about what services librarians could offer them.  Their next conference is in Maine in 2005 and he wanted to discuss some collaboration for the future.

 

Virtual Reference Desk:            Evelyn Breck Morgen investigated the Virtual Reference Desk project of which the Boston Library Consortium is part, a 24/7 online reference service with libraries participating across the nation.  Would it be possible to do such a service in the healthcare sphere using a group of medical libraries nationwide?

 

Old Business

 

Goals:

 

1. Benchmarking – Ed mentioned that Janet Cowen will be carrying the torch on this effort. 

 

2. Increasing CE support – The Board is continuing to allocate greater funds to underwrite CE courses.

 

3. Majors Award – Ed submitted our Paypal project but it did not win.  We will be ready with an appropriate submission for next year.

 

4. Scholarship – We would like to honor those who receive scholarships instead of “hiding” the names of recipients.  Perhaps a short report on the conference attended should be required.   Happy will investigate how other chapters honor  members who win scholarships and report back to the Board. 

 

5. Mentoring – Ed will appoint a subcommittee to look at issues around mentoring.

 

6. Shared Resources – We are monitoring what is happening in the state organizations.  CAHSL has a consortium price for Lippincott Williams & Wilkins texts for 2003, but this may not be renewed in 2004.  CAHSL is currently talking to the StatREF rep. 

 

Other Business

 

Evelyn mentioned that a conference sponsored by the University of Connecticut Health Center entitled Environmental Health Information for Consumers, would be held at Sturbridge on April 22, which is Earth Day. 

 

Barb announced that the Lamar Soutter Library would hold a rededication and open house on  April 3, in honor of the renovation of the library; all are invited. 

 

Debbie reported that Marian Carney is now the rep at Endeavor. 

 

Ed will put a notice up on the NAHSL listserv to announce the time and place of the NAHSL cocktail hour at the MLA Conference in San Diego.

 

Shirley announced that the Hospital Library Section is seeking nominees for the annual awards. 

 

Next Meeting:   June 6, 2003 in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.

 

 

Meeting was adjourned at 2:05 pm. 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Happy Copley

NAHSL Secretary